What does Brand Love actually loook like at E3? Here is a curated look at the top moments.

The Results Are In

With over 600,000 posts monitored, E3 2017 was easily the most talked about event we’ve monitored to date. Below is breakdown of the numbers as well as some of the key trends we saw throughout the event.

OVERALL SNAPSHOTSUMMARY OF TRENDS

Popularity doesn't always equal love

Just because your brand spends more and achieves a higher level of awareness doesn't necessarily mean that it will translate to brand love. Some smaller brands that focused on nurturing and rewarding their more engaged fan bases saw substantially more positive sentiment from their fans.

The early brand gets the worm

Brands like EA, Battlefront and Xbox saw nice buzz around their launches on opening weekend because they weren't competing with everyone else. This also allowed momentum to build, which is why people were still talking about their games on the last day of the event. And even though larger brands like PlayStation and Nintendo were able to break through the noise on their press days, medium-sized brands and games had a harder time launching in the middle of all the mid-week chaos.

Gamers are passionate people

From tattoos to cosplay to waiting in line for hours, fans of E3 and gaming are some of the most passionate out there. We saw that reflected in our data, with E3 receiving a 300% higher tweet volume compared to other events we’ve monitored, despite having a considerably shorter duration.

VR took a back seat

Leading up to the event, there was a lot of talk about VR incorporation and which game developers would place a big emphasis on it. While there were a few subtle nods from major players and smaller indie developers, most of the larger brands focused on their standard PC or console game experiences. For the purists, this was a welcome move, but those looking for a little more innovation out of developers will have to wait a little while longer. Most of the exceptional VR experiences came on a smaller scale in the form of event floor activations.

PC gaming is coming out of the basement

With the rise in popularity of eSports and competitive leagues, PC gaming has grown in popularity in recent years. Not only was it a trending topic this year, but more developers also placed an emphasis on the PC gameplay experience and offered exclusive demos of popular games – once reserved for consoles – for PC gamers to enjoy.

MEASURING BRAND LOVE

At Drumroll, we believe in creating brand love, moments - big or small - to foster meaningful connections between customers and brands. But how do we measure this?

As the sea of mainstream and indie game brands flock to E3, we'll set out to learn who's being talked about and who isn‘t. As everyone starts talking, we‘ll start listening.